Davi Toledo puts an exclamation point on his victory in the first of three heats that clinched a state team title for San Clemente High at the Scholastic Surf Series’ State High School Team Championships. (Photo by Fred Swegles, Orange County Register/SCNG)

San Clemente High’s Takoda Albers releases the tail helping to propel the Tritons to another SSS state team title. (Photo by Fred Swegles, Orange County Register/SCNG)

San Clemente High’s Elijah Fox blasts off the top for the SSS state champion Triton surf team. (Photo by Fred Swegles, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Blue Engleking perches on the nose for state champ San Clemente High.(Photo by Fred Swegles, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Tyler Savage leads San Clemente High to victory in the bodyboard division of the Scholastic Surf Series’ State High School Team Championships.(Photo by Fred Swegles, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Namor Cayres powers to victory in the last of three heats in men’s shortboarding, clinching San Clemente High’s SSS state title. (Photo by Fred Swegles, Orange County Register/SCNG)

For the second year in a row, San Clemente High School is the No. 1 Scholastic Surf Series team in California.

The Tritons, who in March won the National Scholastic Surfing Association’s state team title, captured the SSS state team title in a competition held Saturday, April 22, at Oceanside.

San Clemente collected state titles in men’s shortboarding and in bodyboarding while taking second to Coronado High School in men’s longboarding. The pressure was on for them to perform, as San Clemente’s women’s longboard and shortboard teams were both eliminated in the first round.

The women’s division winners at SSS State were La Jolla High School in women’s longboarding and Carlsbad High in women’s shortboarding.

The tournament was held in surf that stayed glassy all day and produced some overhead sets. There were 10 schools, from Half Moon Bay to La Jolla. Laguna Beach High, the only other Orange County team, did not reach any of the division finals.

For San Clemente High it was a successful defense of the Tritons’ 2016 SSS state team title.

“The surf absolutely was on fire and the kids were fired up to be surfing, and it showed in how they competed,” coach John Dowell said.

The SSS team tournament for coastal schools took place Saturday, April 22, while the division for inland schools ran on Sunday. San Marcos High School took the title for inland schools.

Davi Toledo, Liam Murray and Namor Cayres led the way in San Clemente’s men’s shortboard win in the final match, over San Dieguito. That match clinched the overall team title.

Tyler Savage led the Tritons’ victory over Carlsbad in the bodyboard final. Ethan Mudge was runner-up in the state team final for men’s longboarding, in which the Tritons yielded an 11-10 decision to Coronado.

Fred Swegles grew up in small-town San Clemente before the freeway. He has covered the town since 1970. Today he covers San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. He was in the second graduating class at San Clemente High School, after having spent the first two years of high school in double sessions at historic Capistrano Union High School in San Juan. When the new high school opened, he became first sports editor of the school paper, The Triton. He studied journalism and Spanish at USC on scholarship, graduating with honors. Was sports editor of the Daily Trojan. Surfed on the USC surf team. (High school surfing didn't exist back then.) With the Sun Post, he began covering competitive surfing from the mid-1970s, with the birth of the the modern world tour and the origins of high school surf teams. He got into surf photography and into world travel. Has surfed on six continents (not Antarctica). Has visited 11 San Clementes. Has written photo-illustrated profiles on most of them, with more in the works.

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